Christabella
Christabella is the main antagonist of the 2006 film Silent Hill. She is the leader of a fanatical religious cult known as The Brethren based in the town of Silent Hill, West Virginia. The film and an interview with the set designer imply that she is the sister of Dahlia Gillespie and the aunt of Alessa Gillespie. She was portrayed by Alice Krige, who also portrayed Mary Brady in Stephen King's Sleepwalkers, Morgana le Fay in Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice and the Borg Queen in the Star Trek universe. History Christabella is the manipulative high priestess of the Brethren and almost all of the residents of Silent Hill were her followers. She stresses the importance of maintaining purity by purging sin (aka sacrificing people she deemed as sin incarnate) to please her cult's god. The sacrifices were carried out in a secret chamber in the Grand Hotel, containing a painting of Christabella's possible ancestor being burnt as a witch. Dark Alessa mentions that "they have met many times" at the chamber, indicating that Christabella has killed countless innocent individuals in the past. Before she and her religious group were trapped in the Fog World, Christabella also worked as the headmistress at Midwich Elementary School. There, she tries to indoctrinate most of the students into adhering to the doctrines of the Brethren. After Christabella's sister gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock, Christabella had the child condemned as a witch. Alessa was bullied and abused by her peers daily, while the members of the cult and her aunt not only allowed it, but encouraged it. After Alessa was molested in the school bathroom by a janitor to escape from the bullying at the age of nine, Christabella convinced Dahlia that she needed to be "purified", calling her "filth" and saying her innocence must be restored. Christabella then had Alessa laid over a bed of burning coals to be burned alive as a witch. When one of the chains holding Alessa in place had broken, Christabella and her followers fled from their secret church. All of the members of the cult, including Christabella, were then pulled into the Otherworld after Alessa split her soul and started taking revenge. Rose Da Silva meets Christabella after she and Cybil Bennett flee to the local church to hide from the coming Darkness. Christabella becomes agitated when Cybil fires a shot in the church to stop the cult members from attacking Rose, declaring that the church is a "sanctuary" and casting an ugly look at Cybil and Rose. She then questions the two women on how they came to be in Silent Hill, and agrees to lead them to the local hospital, where she says a demon lies in wait. When Christabella discovers that Rose's adoptive daughter, Sharon, is identical to Alessa, she has her followers attempt to kidnap Rose and Cybil. Rose escapes, but Christabella orders her men to beat Cybil as she lays on the ground bleeding. Christabella then goes to the apartment of her now mad sister, Dahlia, at the store called "Nathan Drugs" in Silent Hill where she finds Sharon and kidnaps her. At the church, Christabella has Cybil burned alive as a witch, and attempts to do the same to Sharon when Rose arrives. Christabella stabs Rose with a dagger, causing Alessa's dark essence to spill out of her and to overtake the church. Christabella and her followers were in horror that Alessa and Dark Alessa are inside the church and Alessa and Dark begin their revenge on them. Alessa then rise into the church with mounds of rusted barbed wire, which Alessa then uses to brutally rape Christabella. The barbed wire exits Christabella's body through her back, chest, and mouth; eventually tearing her in half. As Christabella dies, Dark Alessa dances in her blood. Gallery Vieled Christabella.jpg|Christabella wearing black-veiled attire outside the Grand Hotel, where she carries out her rituals. Christabella.gif|Christabella Mother Christabella.jpg|Christabella wearing her priestess garments. Christabella's death.jpg|Christabella's gruesome death. Christabella with the Brethren.jpg Christabella and the Brethren.jpg The Brethren & Christabella.jpg Christabella & The Brethren.jpg Trivia *Alice Krige wore blue contacts during filming, most likely to match the eye color of Jodelle Ferland and Deborah Kara Unger. *Alice Krige herself did not particularly enjoy the role, feeling that her character was too manipulative and evil. *It is revealed that in Silent Hill: Revelation, her cult was conniving with The Order despite seemingly opposing each other. They ultimately aim to impregnate Alessa with God as it could only work on people possessing psychic powers. However, they believed Alessa was sin incarnate, which required Christabella to "purify" to prepare her body for impregnation, which of course, backfired severely. *Christabella has many similarities with the Silent Hill 3 character Claudia Wolf: **Both have passionate spiritual beliefs. **Both are leaders to their religious devotees. **Both want to cleanse sin with fire. **Used seemingly ceremonial daggers used to stab someone (with Rose Da Silva being stabbed once but survived before the wrath of Alessa's dark half upon the Brethren's Church compound occurred, and "Father" Vincent Smith only murdered twice at The Chapel). *In Silent Hill: Revelation, though it was never mentioned in the first film Claudia calls Christabella her sister, implying a biological relationship although the connection was never been proven. *Christabella was a character created for the film and substitutes Dahlia's villainous role in the videogames. In the videogame, it was Dahlia who abused and immolated Alessa and often called her a "demon" like Christabella. *Christabella's last name is likely Gillespie, though this is never stated in the film. *At the Midwich Elementary School where Christabella used to work, there was a painting portrait of a female God who bears a faint resemblance to Christabella herself. This is likely intentional to foreshadow Christabella's involvement with the school and her cult's religion. *Her surname is unidentified, but since Christabells calls Dahlia her sister, and Claudia says Christabella is her sibling, Christabella's full name may be Christabella Gillespie or "Christabella Wolf" (though never proven). However, it is possible she was married or that she dropped her possible Gillespie surname because she did not want to be associated with Dahlia. *Her name is Latin for "Beautiful Christian" and likely chosen due to all the religious symbolism in the first Silent Hill film, the "Christ" in her name being allusion to Jesus Christ. Her name is ironic as, according to the original script, she is not a Christian. Navigation pl:Christabella Category:Cult Leaders Category:Female Category:Fanatics Category:Silent Hill Villains Category:Horror Villains Category:Movie Villains Category:Live Action Villains Category:Leader Category:Delusional Category:Pure Evil Category:Liars Category:Murderer Category:Kidnapper Category:Dark Priests Category:Charismatic Category:Traitor Category:Faux Affably Evil Category:Master Manipulator Category:Brainwashers Category:Mongers Category:Homicidal Category:Deceased Category:Damned Souls Category:Serial Killers Category:Abusers Category:Evil Vs. 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